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Divine Wisdom and Warning Decoded Messages from God Nicholas Gura Hamilton Books An Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Copyright © 2011 by Nicholas Gura First published in 2015 by Hamilton Books 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 Hamilton Books Acquisitions Department (301) 459-3366 Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Control Number: 2015932571 ISBN: 978-0-7618-6572-8 (pbk : alk. paper)—ISBN: 978-0-7618-6573-5 (electronic) Cover art by Catherine Gura TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. To my two heroes the Honorable Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Beate Klarsfeld Contents Acknowledgments vii I: Divine Messages: Real or Random? 1 1 The Discovery 3 2 Gematria: God’s Math or Numerical Coincidence? 11 II: Divine Wisdom and Warning for Timeless Questions and Mysteries 19 3 Why Are We Here? Why Does the World Exist? 21 4 Who Wrote the Bible? Is the Bible Really True? 35 5 Was Jesus Actually a Messenger of God? 51 6 What Is God’s True Religion? 61 7 Do We Really Have Free Will? 69 8 What Are the Minimum Requirements for Entry into Heaven? And What Happens after Death? 79 9 Suffering: Is It Divine Punishment? 91 III: Divine Wisdom and Warning Regarding Science 95 10 Do Science and the Bible Conflict? 97 11 The Environment: Heal It or Ignore It? 107 12 The Mystery of Quantum Theory Revealed 117 13 Did the Biblical Miracle of the “Parting of the Sea” Actually Occur? 125 v vi Contents IV: Divine Wisdom and Warning for Major Concepts, Issues, and Events 137 14 Was 9/11 a Random Date or Preordained? 139 15 What Is the Lesson of the Holocaust? 149 16 Peace: Make It or Cry Out 161 17 What Does Zion Represent? 171 18 Anti-Semitism: Is It Hatred of Jews or of God Himself? 181 19 Where Are the Greats of the Generation? 191 20 A Curse upon Corruption 197 V: Divine Wisdom and Coaching for a Great Life 203 21 Feed the Hungry 205 22 Honor Mothers . but Not Daughters? 213 Epilogue: What Does God Say about Gematria? 219 Index 221 Acknowledgments I want to thank my wife, Catherine, for her many contributions to this book, including her original painting for the cover, editing, interpretations of the material, myriad suggestions, and her support. I would also like to thank Marilyn Horowitz, Barb Burg, Arielle Eckstut, Sharon Goldinger, and Michael Levin, for their encouragement and help. I am grateful to Rabbi Aron Mathless, Rabbi Binny Freedman, and Rabbi Elie Weinstock, for sharing their wisdom and knowledge. Thank you to Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, and the Ramaz Yeshiva, for providing the foundation for my love and understanding of Judaism. Ad- ditional thanks to Esther Kustanowitz, for reading the manuscript and for her wonderful editing and contributions. Many thanks to my copy editor, Adam Nadler, whose erudition and style made an enormous difference. Thanks to my friend Bertrand Laurent and to my family, who provided me with a well-rounded education. Many thanks to Hamilton Books, espe- cially Julie E. Kirsch and Nicolette Amstutz for their great help. I am extremely grateful to Marsha Brooks for her expert guidance. And thanks to Bruce Bleecker, for his wisdom and friendship. Dr. Nicholas Gura I want to express my deepest gratitude to my husband, Nicholas, who wel- comed my contributions to both the editing and the cover painting of this book. Additionally, I would like to thank the School of Visual Arts, in New York City, whose talented faculty has been a guide and inspiration, in partic- ular Elizabeth Sayles, Shelley Haven, and Melanie Marder Parks. And a special thanks to Joyce Grossbard, for her wisdom, warmth, and encourage- ment. Catherine Gura vii I Divine Messages: Real or Random? Chapter One The Discovery After 9/11 we all searched for answers. Some demanded government action, others focused on apprehending the evildoers, and many suffered the emo- tional and physical fallout of that terrible day. I, too, sought answers, but by using a method 3,200 years old and deeply embedded in the Jewish tradition. Gematria, most commonly referred to as Jewish numerology, is the tradition of assigning specific, traditionally prescribed numbers to Hebrew letters in order to convert text into a number. This practice allows words and phrases with identical numerical values to be compared. When two phrases share the same numerical value, it reveals a hidden relationship between them that teaches us deeper meanings and associations. For example, the Hebrew word for “soul” (Neshama) has the numerical value of 395, and a phrase from Psalm 46:6: “God is within her” (Elokim B’kirbah) has the same value, revealing that God resides within the soul. A second example: a phrase from the Book of Esther 2:2: “beautiful of appearance” (in Hebrew Tovote Mar- eh) has the numerical value of 669, and a phrase from Leviticus 26:6: “peace on earth” (Shalom B’aretz) has the identical numerical value. Therefore, Gematria reveals the hidden wisdom that “peace on earth” is the true “beauti- ful of appearance.” The earliest reference to Gematria is found in the Book of Genesis Chap- ter 14:14, when Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, is referred to as “318 servants.” The Talmud (the ancient authoritative book of Jewish law) explains that 318 is the Gematria (or numerical value) of the name Eliezer. Gematria is used throughout the Talmud to explain biblical text, and has been used by biblical commentators for over 2,000 years to enhance their interpretations. Others have been fascinated with Gematria, including Sir Isaac Newton, who dedi- cated much time to using it to search for the key to unlock hidden biblical wisdom. He was not successful. 3 4 Chapter 1 I was first introduced to Gematria in the third grade at the Ramaz Yeshiva in New York City. After the Israeli Six-Day War, my seventh-grade Bible teacher, Mr. Rappaport, told the class that the total number of Israeli soldiers killed in the war was 679. He wrote the number on the blackboard and said, “Using Gematria, the Hebrew letters that correspond exactly to 679 can be used to spell the Hebrew word Ateret.” Ateret is defined in the Hebrew dictionary as the “crown or glory of [victory].” Although I didn’t grasp the significance of Mr. Rappaport’s comment that day, many years later I incor- porated his insight into my own, new gematrial technique. The events of 9/11 rekindled my interest in the hidden meaning of num- bers and letters. I wondered if 911 was a random number or if it had any greater significance. Eventually, I discovered that the numbers 9 and 11 are associated with three other tragic and horrific events. According to historical accounts, approximately 2,600 years ago, in 586 B.C.E., on the 9th day of the 11th month of the Jewish calendar (the Ninth of Av), the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians. The Temple was soon rebuilt, but in 70 C.E., also on the 9th day of the 11th month, the Romans destroyed the Second Holy Temple. The numbers 9 and 11 appear again in 1938 Nazi Germany. On Novem- ber 9, the 9th day of the 11th month of our modern calendar, thousands of Jewish stores were looted and destroyed, hundreds of synagogues burned, and over 20,000 Jewish citizens were sent to concentration camps. That day, known as Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), should have been a wake- up call to the world that Nazi Germany was a major threat. These discoveries encouraged me to continue exploring Gematria. It was a very natural fit. I have an undergraduate degree in bioengineering from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science and a D.D.S. from the New York University College of Dentistry. After graduating from dental school, I worked on Wall Street for over 20 years, trading stock options on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. I am also a lifelong enthusiast of puzzles and games, and an expert in backgammon. Each of these areas of study prepared me for my work with Gematria. Then one night in 2006 my wife showed me page 484 of the book The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten. It was a brief chapter on Gematria, which I read with great interest. Then she turned on the television and began watch- ing the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The judge announced the next word, “gematrial,” and continued with the definition: “Of, or pertaining to, the study of Gematria.” My wife and I looked at each other. What was the probability that she would turn on the TV at that exact moment, to that channel, to the word “gematrial,” immediately after I had read the Gematria chapter? It could have been a coincidence, but to me it was a sign that I needed to continue with my work. The Discovery 5 After two more years of intensive research, I devised a new gematrial technique, easily verifiable and reproducible without the use of a computer, that revealed messages of wisdom and warning embedded in Hebrew words and phrases. These revealed messages were both profound and metaphorical, and appeared to answer timeless questions and mysteries such as: Why does the world exist? Who wrote the Old Testament? Is the Bible true? Was Jesus actually a messenger of God? What is the secret to being with God? Is there a conflict between science and the Bible? Why is quantum theory so strange? And what are the minimum requirements for entry into heaven? My first discovery came in 2008, a month before Passover.
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